How to Protect Your tripod from Dust and Water?

Tripods are one of the most essential camera equipment we take to film our videos or photos.  But the tripod is the least cared for equipment in the camera gear. Especially when you are filming the videos or taking the pictures in the dust area, you have to take care of your tripod legs and body from the dust. 

So today, let’s discuss how to protect your tripod from dust and water. Especially beginners who are not aware of cleaning their camera gear. For a better long life, you need to clean your tripod and you need to protect it from damages and rust, etc.

Depending on the situation, you need to take your tripod to different environments. There may be dust, mud,  heavy traffic,  pollution, and more. And yes, like your camera, your tripod also needs cleaning and protection.

There are two easy and affordable ways you can use to clean your tripod and to protect your tripod from dust. Either you can purchase some tripod footpads and body cover or you can totally cover your tripod with some plastic paper.  

1 Using tripod footpads

It is obvious that we use lenses for cameras and to protect lenses, we use lens caps. But unfortunately, we don’t care about the tripod legs and body. More than the body, tripod pads are the most exposed part to the dust. 

Ground levels might be sandy or slippery to damage the tripod legs. Especially, when you are using some gravy tripods with the lenses, the weight gets doubled and the legs take more pressure. In this case, a sudden shake or moment can damage the tripod leg. 

Tripod footpads come to the action to take the extra burden and if the tripod legs slip from the surface. So, the steady tripod foot pads help to give some strong support to the tripod legs. So, here using footpads will help to keep the legs of the tripod clean and clear.

You can easily detach the footpads from the legs and can easily clean it anywhere. This simple process won’t cost you anything and can be available on Amazon easily. So, here is one of the best tripod footpads for better protection.

Now, what if you need more protection on the body other than the legs. Just like tripod legs, body and center pod is also important and we must care about those too. There aren’t any pads to cover the entire tripod.

2 Using tripod body covers

Fortunately, most of us take a tripod in hand and roam in dust areas. So, naturally, they are exposed to dust and water. One thing to tighten the protection is to use tripod bags. Tripod cover bags are the best investment you can make today.

Of course, the tripod cover bags are used when the tripod is folded. But what if the tripod is in use? You can use a plastic cover to wrap around the tripod and head for dust protection. This is one of the cheaper ways to get protected from the dust.

Travel vloggers must need to use this tripod cover bag to get rid of further problems. I and my friends as beginner photographers got this body cover from Amazon and I am totally satisfied with the quality and brand. 

Height place an Important role to place it in the bag. However, almost all tripods fit into bags when folded. So I recently covered the topic of How tall does your tripod should be where I discuss which is the perfect height to match your eye level for better sharpness in photography.

3 How to clean your tripod before placing it in the bag

So, using these two techniques are good ways to go but you must clean your tripod before packing it in the cover or after taking it from the bag. You need some tools and a cleaning solution to gently use on the tripod. 

• You need a soft cotton cloth or a Microfiber cloth, click here to check the best one Amazon.
• A mild organic cleaning solution (You can get it from any local shop)
• Water
• A soft brush or a sponge (I found this brush interesting on Amazon)
• Tools like screwdrivers to dismantle your tripod

Step 1: First, after coming from the photoshoot you need to gently clean your tripod from legs to body. You need to dismantle your tripod parts. Now, this isn’t necessarily always, you can always take a soft cotton cloth and can clean your tripod.

Step 2: Next step is to take some cleaning solution into the other cloth, you need multiple microfiber cloths in the bag. One is to clean the dry tripod and another is to cleanse it with the solution. 

Step 3: Now, gently rub your tripod with the cloth once you pour the solution into it and then do not forget to clean the center column and head as well. 

Step 4: As a final step, take the dry cloth and clean the tripod gently without breaking the center column and ball head. Now the cleaning is complete. You can pack it into the decent Body pack cover.

So, as the steps mentioned above you can repeat them whenever you take the tripod in dusty areas. And when you are using the tripod in the water for underwater photography, you need to buy some quality tripods. 

I hope you get some information on how to protect your tripod from the dust and water when you are out for professional photography or videography. So, using rubber footpads is the best to protect from the dust and body covers are the best way to protect the tripod body.